A Chance Meeting – Chapter Seven

The talk ended and there was a collective sigh of relief, Friday afternoon, everyone could now settle in for a few drinks before the final dinner got underway. Caroline and Kate shuffled towards the door amongst their fatigued colleagues.

"Thank God that's over, I told Beverley before I left that this was it, no more bloody conferences, I'm totally over it."

"Well as a first timer I suppose it was..."

Kate's didn't finish her sentence and her face lit up as she saw Lucy sitting on a winged chair engrossed in her Ipad. "There's Lou, she's early." She and Caroline walked over and were standing in front of her before she realised. "I swear one day an arm will emerge from that screen and pull you through!"

Lucy laughed, "Sorry didn't see you, hello Caroline, are you both finished?

Before Caroline could speak, "Yes, thank God. Where are the kids?"

"Oh dad left about half an hour ago, he wanted to get out of the city before the traffic got heavy. So I thought I may as well as well come to you."

There was a little awkwardness, Caroline unsure whether or not to hang around, she suspected they would prefer to be alone. However she also knew this could be the last opportunity to be with Kate, but the decision was taken out of her hands.

"Come on wife of mine, let's get me checked in." Lucy put her arm protectively around Kate's shoulder. "Caroline I do hope we get to have a drink with you and your partner later. It would be nice for us all to catch up." Kate nodded in agreement, giving Caroline an encouraging look.

"I'll do my best. It depends on what time Helen gets here and how she feels. I'll call you later Kate."

"Do you still have my number?"

"Yes, I believe so unless you've changed it."

"No it's still the same."

She stood almost rooted to the spot as she watched them walk over to the desk. She could see Kate looking at Lucy as the clerk altered their booking to include her and hand her a swipe card. Then they meandered off hand in hand to the lifts. She sighed and looked longingly at the bar. 'No, I'll drink in my room no doubt busy body Brenda will bale me up again if she sees me.'

Kate swiped them in to the room and almost before the door had closed properly they were in each other's arms kissing hard and hungrily.

"Kate, I've missed you so much, and I've been so worried about you, both of you."

"I've missed you too; I've been all over the place, just wishing you were here to help sort me out."

"Do you want to make love or talk?"

Kate began to pull up Lucy's sweater, not breaking eye contact, "I want you."

They reached the bed and fell into it breathless with wanting. Kate stroked Lucy's face and body, drinking in the smell and feel of her wife. Nothing came close to these moments, Lou was an extraordinary lover and she knew how to turn Kate inside out. Whispering their love, they brought each other to the edge and back several times until Kate cried out, begging for their release. It came from deep inside them both as their bodies shuddered through the ecstasy together. Kate clung to Lou, burying her face in her shoulder, crying softly. "I love you so much."

They wrapped themselves tightly around each other, lost in their own thoughts as their breathing slowed and they basked in the afterglow.

"It's been hard for you hasn't it darling?"

"Yes, but I think it's been worse for Caroline. I always knew she would find my leaving very difficult, but I didn't foresee how much she would suffer."

"Hey, you, what a short memory you have, cast your mind back to the months and months of therapy and what you went through. It was not inconsiderable, I was there remember?" Kate didn't really want to remember, she had worked hard to put it all behind her.

"The first night we were here, remember I told you we'd been on the phone for a while?"

"Yes."

"I was terrified that if I went to her room I would have ended up in bed with her. But the next day when I thought about it, it wouldn't have been for sex; I just wanted to hold her and make it all better."

"Are you sure? Are you telling me that I have nothing to worry about on that score?"

Kate looked deep into her eyes. "You have nothing to worry about, nothing at all, I hope the last hour has shown you that my darling. You and the kids are my world."

"What about Caroline?"

"I love her Lou, I love her very much, there's no point saying anything different but it's changed. I'm not clear how to describe it just yet, but it's lost its urgency and feels gentle and caring. That's the best I can do right now."

"I understand that, and I'm glad you can tell me."

Caroline walked into her bathroom and started to run a bath; she undressed, grabbed a glass and a bottle, put her phone on the edge of the bath and lowered herself in. She wallowed in the warm water and felt the tension dissipating, leaning her head back pouring and sipping her wine. Moments later her phone rang.

"Caroline, it's me, can you hear me, it's a very crackly line?"

"Yes sweetheart I can hear you."

"Abby's given me the flick, she's got a party on, doesn't think she's got time to have dinner with her mother before she gets ready."

Caroline chuckled to herself. "Well I don't mind being the consolation prize."

"Shall I come over? Would you like me to go to the conference dinner with you?"

"How about you come over now anyway? I'm in the bath and if you hurry I can make room for you."

"On my way, hold that thought; room number please?"

"402. See you in fifteen?"

"Before if I can get the cab to hurry. Bye."

Fifteen minutes later, Helen had checked in and was swiping the key to their door. She walked through to the bathroom and leaned over kissing Caroline, while at the same time taking her clothes off. She climbed in and lay back into her waiting arms.

"God you feel good." Caroline whispered as she kissed Helen's ear. "I've missed this; I've missed you so much; I've needed you and you weren't here."

"It's OK, I'm here and we can make it better together. Just relax now."

After soaking for a while, they left the bath and Helen pulled Caroline onto the bed; she rolled her onto her stomach and gently rubbed oil onto her skin. She began to massage her, finding the knots and working on them. "This feels so good, you always know how to relax me, you're amazing."

Caroline turned over and reached up, pulling Helen's face down to hers, kissing her, inviting her to make love. Helen by now was well versed in pressing all her lover's buttons and Caroline moaned with pleasure, giving in completely to Helen's touch until she reached such pleasure. In turn she devoured Helen, loving her possessively calling her name as she brought her to climax, gently confessing, 'I love you' over and over.

"I love you Caroline, more than you can imagine. Don't leave me."

"I'm going nowhere." She cradled Helen and stroked her head.

"How have you left things with Kate?"

"Her wife arrived just as the lecture finished; she's staying here tonight too. They actually asked if we could have drinks with them later, after the dinner, they aren't going to the conference dinner."

"That's not exactly what I meant Caroline."

"I know. I need to think about how I've left things, try to work out where to from here, if indeed there is any where to. But it doesn't involve leaving you of that I'm sure."

Caroline had spent the time in the bath waiting for Helen, to reflect on how she felt at that moment. Did she wish it were Kate coming to get in? She realised she didn't; she was confident that when Helen joined her, she would feel safe and could let go. Having Kate join her would throw her into such chaos, and she was done with chaos. Her life, while still not moving as fast as she would like, was now comfortable and gentle. Helen loved her very much, as she was, and was patient as Caroline moved forward, constantly testing the waters of her real self.

"If that's the case, why don't we have dinner with them? I'm not keen to have dinner on my own. I'd rather like to meet Kate and spend a bit of time with her. She must be something if you love her as much as you obviously do."

"Helen I ..."

"Caroline it's OK. If you ask me whether I still love Ruth, I'm going to tell you without hesitation that I absolutely do. You know that."

"Yes but she's erm you know..."

"Dead? Yes but that doesn't change what you experience knowing how I feel about her."

"Do you want me to ask them then?"

"Yes, let's see what they say."

Kate and Lou were dozing lightly still tightly wrapped around each other. Kate's phone buzzed and she picked it up.

"Hello."

"It's Caroline, hope I'm not disturbing you."

"No, we were just having a little nap."

"Kate, Helen's here with me, she came early. We were wondering if you would like to have dinner together instead of a drink later. I'm not that fussed about going to the formal dinner."

"OK, hang on a tick." Kate gently woke Lou and asked if she'd like to see them. She was more than happy; she really wanted to get a better handle on Caroline.

"Sure Caroline; that would be lovely. It's six now, how about we say half six in the lobby?"

"Great, see you then"

Lou pulled Kate back into her arms, she whispered 'again?" as she fondled her.

"You're insatiable; we only have half an hour to get ready."

"I only need fifteen minutes." and without another word covered her wife's mouth with hers. Kate felt herself sinking into love yet again.

Helen watched on with mild amusement as Caroline fussed about getting ready. She'd decided against the formal outfit she'd brought but had tried several other things on and mixed and matched the best of the rest. She herself was a colourful and artistic dresser, having mostly bold colours and flowing tops; quite the contrast to Caroline's elegance.

Kate sucked in breath as Lucy emerged from the bathroom in white linen trousers and a beautiful new pink silk shirt, the top of her white lace bra just peeping in the cleavage. Her hair was less tightly curled than Kate's and her loose black waves framed her face. Her makeup was always minimal but highlighted her bones perfectly. "You look gorgeous."

Kate had chosen a pencil skirt with a lilac blouse and tapestry waistcoat, her hair was loose and straightened. She had purposely put on a necklace that Lou had given her for their recent second wedding anniversary. "Not too bad yourself", as Lou came up behind and put her arms round Kate's waist kissing her neck.

"Enough! Come on we've got to go."

As they emerged from the lift, they could see Helen and Caroline waiting for them. It was obvious from the looks between them that their afternoon had been as beneficial as theirs. She knew that look on Caroline's face, exactly what it meant.

Caroline and Kate introduced their partners and they decided to go to a small French restaurant that Caroline and Helen knew from visiting Abby, it was quiet and they would be able to get a private booth. She rang ahead to book just in case. As the taxi drove them into the city, each one was pondering quietly how this dinner date and its conversation was going to pan out. Of all of them, Caroline was the most anxious and Lucy was wracking her brains to conjure up where she could possibly have seen Helen before, there was something very familiar about her.